Once you have established what spread you are paying which is usually clearly displayed by the provider , you know how much money you need to make to cover your fees. In other words, you need to make gains of 10 points to break even. If your gold position increases by 30 points, this means that you have made net gains of 20 points.

A major benefit of financial spread betting is that FCA-regulated brokers like Spreadex can offer you leverage. This means that you are able to trade an asset with more money than you have in your spread betting account. There are, however, limits in place for retail investor accounts that are determined by the asset you are trading.

You can get on non-major indices and non-gold commodities, and on stocks and shares. We should make it clear that when you correctly speculate on the direction that the market moves, leveraged trades are great. After all, your profit will be multiplied by your chosen leverage ratio.

However, this increases the risk on your trade — as your losses will also be amplified should you predict incorrectly. In a similar nature to traditional sports gambling, spread betting markets always come with an expiry date.

In the case of football, for example, this is when the game finishes. The daily market will close at the end of the trading day. The quarterly market will close three months after the trade is placed. Instead, you can keep the position open for hours, days, or weeks — and close it when the time is right. Financial spread betting and traditional sports gambling have a core similarity — profits are never taxed in the UK. This is a great advantage, as ordinarily, investments are liable for several forms of taxation.

This includes capital gains, dividends, and stamp duty tax — all of which eat away at your potential profits. But, in the case of financial spread betting, you can speculate on assets in a completely tax-free way. The reason for this is that spread betting is still classed as gambling — at least in the eyes of HM Revenue and Customs. Crucially, this is why financial spread betting markets always come with an expiry date — as it ensures that the industry retains its tax-free status.

The simple answer is that there are many individuals that trade financial instruments on a full-time basis. But, those that make consistent profits are able to do so because they have dedicated many years to learning their trade. After all, successful spread betting pros will analyze the markets to determine whether an asset will rise or fall in value.

There are two key forms of analysis in the financial spread betting market — technical and fundamental. Fundamental research is much easier to interpret for a beginner than its technical analysis counterpart. Ultimately, without learning how to analyze an asset — you will be at a major disadvantage when spread betting.

Next, we need to discuss how we rank the best financial betting sites in the market. All in all — we found that Spreadex meets all of the above core metrics — which is why we think the provider is the best financial spread betting site for This will ensure that you are able to trade financial instruments in a risk-averse way. Below you will find a selection of financial betting trading strategies that are popular with beginners.

When you join a leading spread betting site like Spreadex, you will have access to thousands of markets. After all, the overarching objective is to predict whether the asset will rise or fall in value — based on your own research. As a beginner, the best market to start with is stocks and shares from a major exchange.

This includes the London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, and the Nasdaq. In sticking with these three major markets, you will benefit from tight spreads and low levels of volatility.

We mentioned earlier that the best financial spread betting platforms typically offer a daily and quarterly market. As a beginner, we would suggest sticking with the latter.

This is because daily funded markets require you to enter positions in a fast-changing environment — whereby you might only have a few hours to exit your trade. But, when opting for a quarterly market, you essentially have three months to make your move. Having this flexibility will allow you to take your time and thus — exit the market when you are ready. In order to make consistent gains from financial spread betting, you need to be able to determine whether the general market sentiment of an asset.

One of the best most effective ways of doing this is to read the financial news as much as you can. For example, at the time of writing, there is an ongoing scandal regarding a remote hack of a major US oil pipeline. This resulted in the pipeline being brought to a halt and in turn — US consumers were panic buying oil.

Naturally, with demand on the increase and supply decreasing, this has resulted in the price of oil going up. This is just one simple example of how being aware of real-world financial and geopolitical events can help you correctly predict the market. But, there is a significant amount of information online — both in text and video form, that can teach you how to successfully deploy a technical analysis strategy. You will be taught how to read charts and look for trends by using technical indicators like the MACD or RSI.

Once you become proficient in technical analysis, you will be at a major advantage when spread betting. This is because you can enter positions throughout the day rather than needing to wait for a financial news story to break.

This FCA-regulated rated platform allows you to trade over 10, financial markets commission-free and at tight spreads. There is no minimum deposit and all markets come with the option of applying leverage. The main concept of financial spread betting is that you will be predicting the future value of assets like shares, gold, oil, currencies, and bonds. Much like CFDs, spread betting derivatives can be traded with leverage. But, unlike CFDs, there is no capital gains tax to pay on spread betting profits.

On the one hand, gambling and spread betting on financial markets both require an element of risk. After all, you need to risk money to make money. However, financial spread betting is more aligned with trading, as, unlike gambling, it's not an 'all or nothing' outcome. Fixed-odds financial betting is different from conventional spread betting. This is because you will be speculating on a binary outcome.

We found that the best financial spread betting site in the UK is Spreadex. This trusted platform offers thousands of markets across most asset classes - all of which can be traded commission-free and at tights spreads.

Yes - much like the traditional gambling markets, financial spread betting profits are tax-free in the UK and Ireland. A daily funded spread betting market will expire on the same day that you enter your position. If your position is still open at the cut-off point, the spread betting platform will close it automatically.

Freelance sports betting writer, focusing primarily on football in the form of match previews and betting strategy. By signing up you agree that you have read our privacy policy. Home » financial spread betting. Best Financial Spread Betting Sites — Top Bookies for Compared. Bradley Gibbs. We sometimes use affiliate links in our content, when clicking on those we might receive a commission - at no extra cost to you.

By using this website you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. Bet £10 Get £30 In Free Bets A huge range of markets available Spread betting and fixed-odds betting both available Large welcome bonus. Learn More Close Learn More. Deposit Method Debit card. License No. Learn More The second £10 free fixed odds bet and second £5 free Total Goals football spread bet will be credited 24 hours later. Spreadex Gallery Gallery 4. Website: Spreadex. What we like: More than 10, financial spread betting markets Very low trading fees No minimum deposit Lots of guides and explainers Great reputation and regulated by the FCA Also offers sports spread betting.

Visit Spreadex. Stocks and Shares — Even as a beginner, there is every chance that you know what stocks and shares are. Think along the lines of Apple, Amazon, and Tesla in the US and BT, AstraZeneca, and British American Tobacco in the UK. Commodities — The best spread betting sites will typically offer dozens of commodity markets. It involves placing a bet on the price movement of a security. A spread betting company quotes two prices, the bid and ask price also called the spread , and investors bet whether the price of the underlying security will be lower than the bid or higher than the ask.

The spread bettor does not actually own the underlying security in spread betting, they simply speculate on its price movement. Spread betting should not be confused with spread trading , which involves taking offsetting positions in two or more different securities and profiting if the difference in price between the securities widens or narrows over time. Spread betting allows investors to speculate on the price movement of a wide variety of financial instruments, such as stocks , forex , commodities , and fixed-income securities.

In other words, an investor makes a bet based on whether they think the market will rise or fall from the time their bet is accepted. They also get to choose how much they want to risk on their bet. It is promoted as a tax-free, commission-free activity that allows investors to profit from either bull or bear markets. Spread betting is a leveraged product which means investors only need to deposit a small percentage of the position's value.

This magnifies both gains and losses which means investors can lose more than their initial investment. Spread betting is not available to residents of the United States due to regulatory and legal limitations.

Despite the risk that comes with the use of high leverage, spread betting offers effective tools to limit losses :. Risk can also be mitigated by the use of arbitrage, betting two ways simultaneously. Investors have the ability to bet on both rising and falling prices. If an investor is trading physical shares, they have to borrow the stock they intend to short sell which can be time-consuming and costly.

Spread betting makes short selling as easy as buying. Spread betting companies make money through the spread they offer. There is no separate commission charge which makes it easier for investors to monitor trading costs and work out their position size. Spread betting is considered gambling in some tax jurisdictions, and subsequently, any realized gains may be taxable as winnings and not capital gains or income.

Investors who exercise spread betting should keep records and seek the advice of an accountant before completing their taxes. Because taxation on winnings in some countries is far less than that on capital gains or trading income, spread betting can be quite tax-efficient, depending on one's location. During periods of volatility, spread betting firms may widen their spreads.

This can trigger stop-loss orders and increase trading costs. Investors should be wary about placing orders immediately before company earnings announcements and economic reports. Many spread betting platforms will also offer trading in contracts for difference CFDs , which are a similar type of contract.

CFDs are derivative contracts where traders can bet on short-term price moves. There is no delivery of physical goods or securities with CFDs, but the contract itself has transferrable value while it is in force. The CFD is thus a tradable security established between a client and the broker, who are exchanging the difference in the initial price of the trade and its value when the trade is unwound or reversed.

Although CFDs allow investors to trade the price movements of futures, they are not futures contracts by themselves. CFDs do not have expiration dates containing preset prices but trade like other securities with buy and sell prices.

Spread bets, on the other hand, do have fixed expiration dates when the bet is first placed. CFD trading also requires that commissions and transaction fees be paid up-front to the provider; in contrast, spread betting companies do not take fees or commissions.

When the contract is closed and profits or losses are realized, the investor is either owed money or owes money to the trading company. If profits are realized, the CFD trader will net the profit of the closing position , minus the opening position and fees. Profits for spread bets will be the change in basis points multiplied by the dollar amount negotiated in the initial bet. Both CFDs and spread bets are subject to dividend payouts assuming a long position contract.

While there is no direct ownership of the asset, a provider and spread betting company will pay dividends if the underlying asset does as well.

When profits are realized for CFD trades, the investor is subject to capital gains tax while spread betting profits are usually tax-free. Spread betting is a way to bet on the change in the price of some security, index, or asset without actually owning the underlying instrument. While spread betting can be used to speculate with leverage, it can also be used to hedge existing positions or make informed directional trades.

As a result, many who participate prefer the term spread trading. From a regulatory and tax standpoint it may be considered a form of gambling in certain jurisdictions, since no actual position is taken in the underlying instrument. The majority of U. As a result, spread betting is largely a non-U.

Investopedia does not provide tax, investment, or financial services and advice.

Financial Conduct Authority has stepped in to protect customers from heavy losses, but this is not a new phenomenon. That might not be a problem if their products were being sold as a form of leisure, in the same way that you may have an occasional flutter on the Grand National. So financial spread betting has to be marketed as an investment product.

For the vast majority — the dentists and teachers dabbling with the equity and currency markets — it has never been anything close to that. There are a few reasons, but the main one is that predicting the future is really difficult, even for professionals. It is rare to get a City fund manager who consistently outperforms the market over the long run, so what chance has the dentist from Dumbarton or the teacher from Truro got?

Secondly, the way these bets are structured puts the gambler at a disadvantage. A share trading at p may need to be bought at p, from which your winnings and losses are calculated. If the share goes up by 1p, you would win nothing.

If it goes down by a penny, you would lose 2p a share — or two times your stake. Thirdly, buying shares in the traditional manner may provide an investor with an income via a dividend, which would need to be factored into any profit calculation.

There are no dividends with spread betting. It is not just sporting teams. The reason for this effort stems from the ratio of losers to winners.

If you are betting on a football match and lose, there is still a chance that you enjoyed the game and the bet might have enhanced the entertainment. The same has never been true of the financial markets, so if you are not winning, the betting soon becomes extremely tiresome. That means there are always a huge amount of spread-betting customers who quit, forcing companies to continually search for new customers. That depends. You can lose a little over a long period of time, get bored of it and quit, and that should not be hugely damaging.

However, because spread betting can cause a customer to lose a lot more than their stake, they can end up with large debts if a market moves swiftly against them. Amateur traders ended up with five-figure debts. This is because spread betting is a leveraged product: you borrow money to make larger bets than you could otherwise afford. On a spread bet, you would place a bet of £10 per point to give you the same exposure.

So if Speedy Jet shares rise by a penny — equivalent to a point — you would win £10, just as on the share trade. However, the difference with a spread bet is that you would only need a fraction of £1, to take this position. That allows customers to make larger bets than they might, which can work both ways. If Speedy Jet shares go up by 20p, you have risked £50 to win £ 20 points x £ But the reverse is also true. If the shares lose 20p, you will have lost £ — four times your stake. The FCA said people were sometimes able to have leverage of times, meaning they can take a £20, position with a £ deposit.

News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show More Show More News World news UK news Coronavirus Climate crisis Environment Science Global development Football Tech Business Obituaries. Simon Goodley. Is the regulator correct? Spread-betting industry loses £1bn after City watchdog steps in. Read more. Topics Financial Conduct Authority Regulators Financial sector Consumer affairs Investing analysis. Reuse this content.

More on this story. Just writing 'Dear CEO' letters won't protect the spread-betting punters. Spread-betting industry may have put customers at risk of harm, says FCA. Shares in spread betting firm Plus soar thanks to bitcoin boom. Spread-betting firms' shares plunge as EU watchdog plans crackdown.

Cryptocurrencies: City watchdog to investigate new fundraising trend. To my wife and family, I apologise: how I lost £, spread betting. Trading firms never tire of hunt for punters.

It is promoted as a tax-free, commission-free activity that allows investors to profit from either bull or bear markets. How to open an account. Key Takeaways Spread betting allows traders to bet on the direction of a financial market without actually owning the underlying security. Leverage : Trading Platforms : MT4, MT5, BDSwiss Webtrader and Mobile App Regulation : FSC, FSA. This is yet another reason why we like Spreadex, as the platform offers an in-house live chat facility. Speed Markets. LOG IN CREATE AN ACCOUNT.

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